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Lab-Grown Meat Startup Raises $8.8 million In New Funding

Growing global demand for meat fuels the race to transform the industry with lab-grown meat.

Cell-grown or lab-grown meat is produced using many of the same tissue engineering techniques used in regenerative medicine. Developers say this process requires a fraction of the resources used in traditional livestock and poultry production.

Lab-grown meat makers have yet to begin selling any of their products, but many big organizations race to cash in on this technology. Recent companies to get in on the action are top European meat processor and German drugmaker Merck KGaA, who are backing Netherlands-based Mosa Meat.

Mosa Meat has been able to significantly lower the costs of production, and with a $8.8 million investment from Merck’s venture investing unit, their efforts continue to fulfill growing global demand for meat. “We’ve done a lot of work in scaling up the cell culture to something that can be used on an industrial scale”, said Mosa Meat co-founded Mark Post.

The production methods for lab-grown meat.

Lab-grown meat makers begin by isolating livestock cells that have the capacity to renew themselves, and place them into room-size bioreactor tanks. The cells are fed oxygen and nutrients like sugar and minerals, and can grow into skeletal muscle that can be harvested within a few weeks.

Farmers are not not fond of lab-grown meet. Some cattle ranchers and hog farmers regard this process as a lab-developed "imitation" of traditional hamburgers and pork.

Lab-grown meat might be in our future, and some say it may be healthier than the real stuff.